


Sweet Night, Love

by sakav



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), Zelda Needs a Hug, post-BOTW, sweet night by taehyung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24391528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakav/pseuds/sakav
Summary: Zelda wakes up from a nightmare; Link sings her back to sleep.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 66





	Sweet Night, Love

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Sweet Night" by Kim Taehyung/V of BTS, a song that has lulled me to sleep more times than I would like to admit. Give it a listen while reading through this fic for ultimate softness <3

_ Darkness. _

_ Night has fallen around her, and she runs forward, breathless, muscles aching, hair whipping her face. _

_ She is too late. _

_ She hears the sounds of battle around her, of soldiers falling in battle, sees the guardians’ brilliant red beams out of the corners of her eyes. _

_ She passes her friend, her mother, her sister –– Urbosa, on the ground, an arrow pierced through her heart. The fallen warrior Revali, lying face down, his right wing twisted unthinkably. The sweet Mipha crumpled, burned, tear streaked. The mighty Daruk, who always seemed but a second away from breaking into a smile, still. Lifeless. _

_ She slows down enough to choke in the ashy air, but the war doesn't stop. Her friends don’t live. _

_ She is too late. _

_ In front of her, darkness rises. A darkness unlike anything she's seen, a pitch black that is worse than blindness, a smoke that smothers everything except the sounds of death, the smell of fear, the singe of laser-fire. _

_ There, Link stands. Staring the Calamity down, his face ever so serious. His stance is wobbly, his sword chipped, and yet he doesn’t back away. _

_ “You dare oppose me?” a voice booms out. Ganon. _

_ She is too late. _

_ She reaches Link and pushes him aside, behind her, the ease of her gesture revealing just how exhausted he truly is. _

_ She is too late. _

_ “You won’t take over. We will defeat you, you will not rise,” she shouts, but her voice is tired, defeated. Sorrowful. _

_ Ganon laughs and she is too late. _

_ She stretches her hand out in front of her, pushing, calling,  _ _ hoping _ _ , for her goddess blessed light to burst out. To defeat this evil, to bring light to her world again. _

_ But she is too late. _

_ Darkness takes over. _

* * *

Zelda wakes up with a gasp.

She sits up, her face tear streaked, eyes searching wildly around her.

But she sees only darkness.

For a moment, she forgets where she is. Her breaths come out haphazardly, unevenly, and her nails dig into her palms hard enough to draw blood. There is only darkness around her, as there has been for the past one hundred years.

She tries to stand up, but her feet get tangled in something. A cloth, soft and warm, but she mistakes it for the Calamity’s tendrils of darkness.

She shrieks, falling forward, face down.

And then, something moves in front of her, and she realises she can see something. Faintly, in front of her, as if there is a sheen, a veil, blocking it. Outside, there is a soft golden glow.

She scrambles up and stumbles towards the light. When she reaches the barrier, it flows open like butter, and she pushes through––

Light. Where there was darkness, there is now light. Bright, blinding, piercing.

Zelda shrieks again as she is momentarily blinded, her senses muting her surroundings. She doesn’t register the soft crackle of burning wood, or the warmth of the fire. Her hands fly up to cover her eyes, and she doesn’t realise that the barrier she passed through before was actually a tent flap, the cloth she was previously tangled in a blanket. She doesn’t notice her appointed knight stand up in alarm, face pinched in concern.

She cries out walking forward blindly, her mind a million miles away, still stuck in the heart of the Calamity.

Before she can burn herself by the fire, she is pulled to the side, into something–– someone. Someone’s chest. Arms wrap around her and she is hit by a smell so familiar, so dear. Cedar trees, a dash of mint, slightly sweet.

“Link?” she sobs as her hands clutch at his back. Link gently sits her down on his lap, on the log by the fireside, tucking her head under his chin. He doesn’t let go of her, instead he squeezes her tightly to his chest, rubbing her back, gently rocking her back and forth.

Although he remains silent, she understands.  _ I’m here. You’re safe. You survived. You’re not alone. You are free. _

One by one, Zelda’s senses return to her. She keeps her eyes open, staring into the bright blue of Link’s tunic, even as the sobs wrack her body. She is too afraid of what the darkness would entail should she close her eyes. She hears the crackling of fire mixed with Links breaths, feels the soft pressure as Link holds her close.

And then she hears something else. Her ear on his chest, she feels the soft rumble of his voice. Humming, Link is humming.

Zelda’s sobs quieten to sniffles as Link’s mellow voice fills the air.

_ “Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah, _

_ Ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah _

_ We were ships in the night, night, night.” _

And then he’s singing.

“ _ I' _ _ m wondering, are you my best friend? _

_ Feels like a river's rushing through my mind, _

_ I wanna ask you if this is all just in my head, _

_ My heart is pounding tonight, I wonder...” _

His voice is quiet, barely decipherable over the crackle of fire, she feels it more than hears it. His voice is deep, slightly raspy due to disuse. It reminds her of the rough calluses that form after hours of sword training, of days spent in dimly lit libraries, pouring over books, researching, investigating, exploring. His voice reminds her of pyjamas with too-long sleeves, and of warm, honeyed tea just before bed.

She sighs into his chest, and Link hugs her even more tighter, pulling her even more closer.

_ “If you are too good to be true, _

_ And would it be alright if I _

_ Pulled you closer?” _

Zelda’s breaths slow, her eyes slowly falling shut. It is still dark outside, but it’s not so bad. The stars twinkle above them and the fire’s glow warms her. Link’s arms remind her of home, are home.

She falls asleep to the sound of Link’s whistling, the rumble of his chest, the rocking motion of his body.

“Sweet night, love,” she thinks she hears Link whisper, although it might as well have been the phantom wind.

**Author's Note:**

> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/winterzuko) for anyone who wants to talk to me about botw or bts or anything else really!


End file.
